All Books and Reports
Echoes at Fishermen’s Rock – Traditional Tokelau Fishing
Edited and translated by Antony Hooper and Iuta Tinielu, 2010 [available in English]
This straightforward manual is a collection of the traditional techniques for the capture of crabs, bird and especially fish of the lagoon, the reef and the open ocean of Tokelau. As such, it introduces the various species and thus the rich biodiversity of the small Pacific island country.
Weathering Uncertainty Traditional Knowledge for Climate Change Assessment and Adaptation
UNESCO-UNU, 2012
'In recent years there has been a growing awareness that scientific knowledge alone is inadequate for solving the climate crisis. The knowledge of local and indigenous peoples is increasingly recognized as an important source of climate knowledge and adaptation strategies.' This new UNESCO-UNU publication is an outcome of an initiative on 'Indigenous Peoples, Marginalized Populations and Climate Change', a partnership that consists of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UNDP GEF Small Grants Programme, UNESCO and UN University...
Matenek Lokal, Timor Nian! (Traditional Knowledge of Timor!)
Edited by Demetrio do Amaral de Carvalho, 98 pp, 2011 [available in Tetum]
Written in local language (Tetum), the nine-papers book explore the various aspects of local and traditional knowledge and its relation to nature conservation, land management and natural resource management, and industry.
Women’s Knowledge: Traditional Medicine and Nature (Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues)
By Laurence Pourchez, 120 pp, 2011. [in French only]
The Islands of Reunión, Mauritius and Rodrigues have their own unique medical traditions that have emerged from multiple origins through a process of creolisation. This book brings to our attention the knowledge of medicinal plants and medical practices of the women of these islands, with special focus on childbirth. It also considers the place of medicinal knowledge within these evolving societies which are actively confronting the threats and opportunities that globalization poses to local identities.
The Jarawa Tribal Reserve Dossier: Cultural & Biological Diversities in the Andaman Islands
Edited by Pankaj Sekhsaria and Vishvajit Pandya. 212pp. Paris: UNESCO, 2010
One of the most distinctive, but relatively little known features of the Andaman Islands is an entity of land and sea called the Jarawa Tribal Reserve (JTR) – a space legally notified in the name and, arguably, the interests of the Jarawa tribal community. As much information relating to the Jarawa and the Reserve remains scattered and difficult to access, this Dossier has undertaken to bring together within the covers of one publication, information and views about the JTR emanating from a number of distinct disciplines.
Mayangna Knowledge of the Interdependence of People and Nature: Fish and Turtles
[Conocimientos del Pueblo Mayangna sobre la Convivencia del Hombre y la Naturaleza: Peces y Tortugas]
By Paule M Gros and Nacilio Miguel Frithz, 2010 [available in Spanish and Mayangna]
The Central American tropical rainforest along the border between Nicaragua and Honduras has been the home of the indigenous Mayangna and Miskito for centuries. Their knowledge about the local flora and fauna is extensive and in-depth. This 450 page book – divided into two volumes - captures in meticulous detail the breadth and depth of indigenous knowledge about the aquatic world including a wide range of information about the 30 fishes and six turtles that frequent Mayangna waterways.
Climate Change and Arctic Sustainable Development
Scientific, social, cultural and educational challenges
UNESCO, 2009, 376 pp.
Forewords by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and the UNESCO Director-General
This book brings together the knowledge, concerns and visions of leading Arctic scientists in the natural and social sciences, prominent Chukchi, Even, Inuit and Saami leaders from across the circumpolar North, and international experts in education, health and ethics. They highlight the urgent need for a sustained interdisciplinary and multi-actor approach to monitoring, managing and responding to climate change in the Arctic, and explore avenues by which this can be achieved.
Learning and Knowing in Indigenous Societies Today
Edited by P. Bates, M. Chiba, S. Kube & D. Nakashima, UNESCO: Paris, 128 pp., 2009.
The loss of their specialised knowledge of nature is a grave concern for many indigenous communities throughout the world. Education, as it is understood in a Western context, occupies a pivotal role in this process, highlighted by many as both a major cause of the decline of indigenous knowledge, and also as a potential remedy for its demise. Commendable efforts are being made to better align educational curricula with indigenous realities and to incorporate local knowledge and language content into school curricula, but the interrelationship and balance between these two different ways of learning remain delicate. These issues, and attempts to address them, are explored within this UNESCO publication...
Fishers' Knowledge in Fisheries Science and Management
Edited by Nigel Haggan, Barbara Neis and Ian G. Baird. Coastal Management Sourcebooks 4. UNESCO, 437 pp., 2007
This book focuses on how and where fishers' knowledge – indigenous and artisanal, as well as large and small-scale commercial – is being put to work in collaboration with scientists, government managers and non-governmental organizations.
Water and Indigenous Peoples
Edited by R. Boelens, M. Chiba and D. Nakashima, UNESCO: Paris, 177 pp, 2006.
Based on the papers delivered on the Second and Third World Water Forums (The Hague, 2000, and Kyoto, 2003), this book brings to the fore some of the most incisive indigenous critics of international debates on water access, use and management, as well as indigenous expressions of generosity that share community knowledge and insight in order to propose remedies for the global water crisis.
Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity
International Social Science Journal - Issue 187 - March 2006
Marie Roué, Editorial Advisor
This issue investigates the relations between local and indigenous societies and nature from the Philippines to Benin, from sub-arctic to Melanesia, and from Thailand to France...
Reef and Rainforest: An Environmental Encyclopedia of Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands
[Kiladi oro vivineidi ria tingitonga pa idere oro pa goana pa Marovo]
By Edvard Hviding, UNESCO: Paris, 252 pp, 2005. [available in English and Marovo]
Reef and Rainforest proposes a voyage of discovery into the lives of the Marovo people. This encyclopedia, based entirely upon local knowledge of the environment, compiles the names and associated stories for some 350 fishes, 450 plants, 100 shells, 80 birds, 80 distinct topographical features of coral reef, sea and coast - and more. Written first and foremost for the use of the Marovo people, many wise elders of the villages and other local experts on reef and rainforest have provided, checked, verified and expanded the names and stories contained in this book.
Evolution of village-based marine resource management in Vanuatu between 1993 to 2001
By R. E. Johannes and F. R. Hickey, UNESCO, 2004
A 1993 study of coastal villages in Vanuatu, an archipelago in the tropical western Pacific, revealed that, within the previous three years, marine resource management measures, designed to reduce or eliminate overfishing or other damaging human impacts on marine resources, had rapidly increased...
NGOs in the Governance of Biodiversity
International Social Science Journal - Issue 178 - December 2003
Marie Roué, Editorial Advisor
Since the traditional ecological knowledge of local and indigenous peoples was written into Agenda 21 and the Convention on Biodiversity, their role in management of their natural resources has achieved international recognition...
Indigenous Knowledge
International Social Science Journal - Issue 173 - September 2002
Arun Agrawal, Editorial Advisor
The contributions to this issue consider the basic question of how to think about indigenous knowledge and its relationship to power, arguing for greater attention to the contexts in which indigenous peoples live, indigenous knowledge is generated, and interactions between the putative indigenous/local and the alleged scientific/modern occur...
Science, Traditional Knowledge and Sustainable Development
ICSU Series on Science for Sustainable Development No. 4
International Council for Science and UNESCO, Marc 2002
In addressing the goals of sustainable development, the role of science is crucial; scientific knowledge and appropriate technologies are central to resolving the economic, social and environmental problems that make current development paths unsustainable. However, science does not constitute the only form of knowledge, and closer links need to be established between science and other forms and systems of knowledge in addressing sustainable development issues and problems at the local level such as natural resources management and biodiversity conservation.
